Idukki - the complete picture - Part 2

Kothamangalam to Cheruthoni - Road side scenes

To read Part 1 - Idukki the complete picture, Click here

After one of the most delicious cup of tea, we proceeded with our journey, none of us quite sure on the way we are going to take and we were not bothered because we knew wherever we reach in this part of the country, it is sure a treat to watch.

We could see some mountains upfront the straight roads.



Soon we found ourselves starting to climb up.



Some faint remembrance of this route flashed through my mind and I could recollect that this was the route which I took for the Munnar trip one year back, but the drive was at night (Munnar travelogue is here).

What I remembered was right as is evident from this sign post.



Which way to chose? Munnar or Idukki.. Either one of them is tempting. But the plan to make a visit to our colleagues house near Idukki made us turn right towards Idukki.

The twisties were fun to negotiate in very low speeds. Each view we had was a treat and we kept enjoying the slow but steady drive through these neatly maintained terrain



There was a terrain change again, when we could spot big rocks towards one side of the road and the longish trees on the other side presenting another spot to remember.




We reached an open sort of area with a big rock on the right side and beautiful mountains on the other side and by instict I turned the vehicle out of the road towards the foot of those rocks to enjoy this view for some time. Naturally my fingers had a good exercise, by way of pressing the shoot button of my Sony H50.


After a chit chat in the prestine company of nature, we were on roads again.


Suddenly there was a heavy rush of lorries, mainly tipper lorries and we could see a long queue of them towards one side of the road with the queue culminating at this point.



Sand mining was happening there and these lorries were waiting to carry loads of sand being taken from this area.

Kerala state electricity boards sign post indicated that we are entering the Lower Periyar Hydro Electric project area.



From then on the roads seemed to go through thick dense forest. The greenery wore a fresh look owing to the recent rains which gave a natural cleaning and also a heavy dose of proteins to these flora fauna making them really shine.



We were unaware of the distance to travel to reach Idukki, when this sign post helped us to clear the doubt



Another thing which came to our notice is that there were some small rocks on the road sides which resembled some good sculputures. One such rock can be seen on the left side of this road.




Time was 1.00pm and we were still roaming around inside these forest with no hotels in sight to cool of our tummy's desire to refill. Against our tummy's wish another stop happened when we found another good spot to relax. Afterall we ventured this journey just to relax and to take our minds from then normal routines and there was no need to rush things of as we don't have any schedule commitments to meet



Atlast I decided to pose one before the camera



It was fun indulging in a discussion sitting here in the company of nature, with the sound of a stream of water, some birds and swaying trees.



It was almost 1.45 when we started from this point, even though we could have stayed there for long.

We had gained enough altitude as is evident from the view which got on our left side



Another rock which resembled a human head and body was on display. Thanks to the zooming capability of my image capturing machine, the sculpture is here.



We were nearing Cheruthoni. The roads continued to be quiet scenic.



The hilly terrain on our side kept on changing its look, feel and color ensuring that we don't get bored and wanting for more



Finally a small town was in site named cheruthoni, found out a good hotel and filled up our tummy. Enquired with the staff on the viewpoints around and decided to proceed based on his advice.

Overall the ride from Ernakulam till Cheruthoni was really enjoyable with us stopping frequently to be with nature and enjoying the natural beauty at its best. The roads were pretty good with almost zero traffic and the climate was pretty good though with no sun and no rain.

Something even better was in store for us after the lunch.

Hope you too enjoyed the scenes as much as we did. Your feedback please!!!

Part 3 - Idukki the complete picture - The Arch Dam experience